Need help diagnosing Hasselblad 500C/M issues

• When pressing the shutter release the mirror flips up and the rear shutters open, but the bottom half stops short of fully opening by about 1/4". The shutter does not fire until I release the button and either twiddle the winding crank ever so slightly, or (with the back off) very gently push on the bottom rear shutter.
• The rear shutter does not return to the closed position after firing; it only closes once I advance the camera.

• Both the mirror flip-up and the opening of the rear shutter seem quite snappy, though the latter slows down towards the end. Both halves of the rear shutter show a strong springy resistance when closed.
• There is very little resistance on the bottom half of the rear shutter once opened; I only need to touch it quite lightly with the end of a q-tip for the camera to fire.
• If I use the mirror lock-up button the rear shutter always opens fully (though rather slowly towards the end), and the shutter fires correctly when I press the release. The rear shutter still does not close afterwards.

R Kane said:

Hello,

I registered here in the hope that I can get some assistance from experienced Hasselblad folks with diagnosing what's wrong with my 1974 Hasselblad 500C/M. It suffers from two likely related issues:

• When pressing the shutter release the mirror flips up and the rear shutters open, but the bottom half stops short of fully opening by about 1/4". The shutter does not fire until I release the button and either twiddle the winding crank ever so slightly, or (with the back off) very gently push on the bottom rear shutter.
• The rear shutter does not return to the closed position after firing; it only closes once I advance the camera.

A few observations:

• Both the mirror flip-up and the opening of the rear shutter seem quite snappy, though the latter slows down towards the end. Both halves of the rear shutter show a strong springy resistance when closed.
• There is very little resistance on the bottom half of the rear shutter once opened; I only need to touch it quite lightly with the end of a q-tip for the camera to fire.
• If I use the mirror lock-up button the rear shutter always opens fully (though rather slowly towards the end), and the shutter fires correctly when I press the release. The rear shutter still does not close afterwards.

I am not afraid to try to service this camera myself (if you knew me you'd understand why) but it would be incredibly useful if anyone who might recognise these symptoms could give me some suggestions as to what to look for. From what I've learned so far it seems to point to the auxiliary shutter spring possibly being broken, or in need of retensioning. If it's broken I will have to make a new spring myself, since these are no longer available from Hasselblad. It would not be the first time that I make a custom spring for a delicate mechanism.

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